Otogi: Myth of Demons is what happens when From Software take a legendary figure from Japanese history and the tales that surround him, and turn it all into an Action RPG video game.

At the beginning of the game, Raikoh wakes from his death, revived by a shadowy princess. She tells him that someone has broken the seal that protects the human world from demon kind, and tasks Raikoh to find this person, and execute them. He is also to find a way to restore the seal that was broken, but neither of these tasks will be easy. With the seal broken the human world has been flooded with demons who will show no mercy to any that cross their path.

The game itself is wonderfully done. The environments are stunningly beautiful, not to mention downright eerie in some places. The music is based off traditional Japanese instruments, and offers one of the best examples of Soundtrack Dissonance in any videogames. The controls are simple and effective, and the combat both brutal and elegant. Indeed, it remains one of the only games to effectively combine Hack and Slash with Crouching Tiger style Wire Fu. The game also features destructible environments. If you can hit it (or hit an enemy into it), then you can probably break it. From buildings, to castle walls, to trees, and in some places even the floor, you can leave half a ton of rubble in your wake. Preferably with some enemy demons buried in there somewhere...

The demons that you fight are also deserving of mention as each is given descriptions that you can read before the levels, which not only tells you what to expect when fighting them but describes them in a way that is evocative of their origin from Japanese mythology.

The Sequel, Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors takes place years after Otogi and introduces five new playable characters, for a total of six.

The story opins with Seimei, a poweful Onmyoji, being pursued by the Nine-tailed Fox. She manages to escape and makes her way to the tree Raikoh sealed himself into at the end of Otogi. There she is joined by the Shitennō, The Four Guardian Kings, Kintoki, Tsuna, Sadamitsu, and Suetake.

In order to unseal and revive Raikoh, the Shitennō preform Ritual Suicide while Seimei chants in the background. Raikoh is revived, and so are the Shitennō. As in the previous game, they are all now trapped between life and death. With this, the 5 Immortal Warriors and Seimei set out to defeat the 9 Tailed Fox and bring peace back to the land.

Otogi 2 is an overall improvement; it looks better, has more content, and gives you five new unique characters to play as. In short, it's Otogi Turned Up to Eleven. Both games have often been lauded as two of the best if not the two best looking games on Microsoft's original console.

Tropes

Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: You fight the last Bosses of the games in these, in Otogi it's a different dimension, in Otogi 2 you seem to be in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Awesome but Impractical: The Needle of Fury from Otogi(and 2), it turns you into The Berserker, raising your melee attack though the roof... But you can't use magic at all. More often then not, you're better off with magic.

Back from the Dead: Raikoh, and the Shitennō are revived by magic, in Raikohs' case, twice. They are in a state between life and death, as long as they have Ki in there bodies they can come back. Conversely, if they run out of Ki they will degrade rapidly until they die, or get more Ki.

"I burned this body in the flames of the stars for 10,000 days. I am a god! And you shall be my offering to the heavens."

"I bask in the light of the eight million stars of the heavens. My flesh, burned by the flames of 10,000 nights, is shed!"

"I am Life. I am Death. I am the Stars. I am the Heavens. The fires of hell echo in the skys, and I am reborn! Grant me power though your light! I am Michizane."

BFS: The Indigo Fang, it even does extra damage when you use a heavy attack. The Golden Dragon also counts, though it's more of a Big Frikkin' Club then a BFS. Both of these make cameos as weapons in Ninja Blade.

Big Bad: Michizane in the first game, the Nine-tailed Fox in the second.

Bonus Boss: The Crimson King shows up in Otogi 2 to put the hurt on you in a one-on-one dual. He might be the strongest boss in the game, even stronger then fully powered Nine-tailed Fox.

Chase Scene: At one point Raikoh must run up a massive tower that connects the netherworld to the livingworld while being chased by a huge hydra that may, or may not, be Orochi. In Otogi 2 something similar happens involving a canyon and a Giant Spider.

Colony Drop: When you beat the fully powerd Nine-tailed Fox he turns his body into a massive meteor, and starts falling toward the planet. You have to destroy it before it hits home.

Cool Sword: Lots of them, the most normal sword in these games is a large katana made for spliting helmets.

Creepy Crows: Humanoid Raven demons are a common enemy type. Sadamitsu also has a pet Crow in the second game.

Critical Encumbrance Failure: The game keeps track of the weight of the weapon and accessory your using, the heavier they are, the slower you get and lower you jump.

Dead to Begin With: Raikoh in Otogi, he died when the seal was broken and the world was overrun by demons. After his revival he sets out to correct that whole "world overrun by demons" problem.

Double Jump: Raikoh, Tsuna, and Seimei can do this. Kintoki can only jump once. Sadamitsu can jump three times. And Suetake... he can jump as much as he wants to.

Dual Boss: The two giant flying centipedes from Otogi 2, it's a hard fight no matter who you use(except for Kintoki). In fact, you don't even have to kill them to beat the stage, just survive long enough for Seimei to finish chanting her spell in the background.

Dual Wielding: Raikoh has several options for dual swords in the first game, as well as a pair of axes.

Blow You Away: The house of Soryu, The Dragon, shoots dragons that home in on enemies. Suetake is this element, he fits it very well, as he is the only warrior that can jump as many times as you want, so you'll spend most, if not all of your time in the air.

Making a Splash: The house of Genbu, The Butterfly? (Should be Snake and Turtle), makes a cloud of butterflies made of water that knocks away enemies. Sadamitsu is this element. She fits it well, in fact one of her alt costumes turns her entire body into see though water.

Playing with Fire: The House of Suzaku, The Phoenix, launches Phoenixes made of fire. Kintoki is this element, though he doesn't act too much like a fire type and isn't very good with magic anyway.

Shock and Awe: The house of Byakko, the Chimera? (Should be Tiger), brings down lightning. Tsuna is this element; he can apparently generate electricity from his body, so much so that he gets used as a living generator at one point in the game.

Power of the Void: The house of the Void... Duh. Has no spells as you can't use it, and the few enemies that have this element are just resistant to all magic spells.

Evil Weapon: The Orchid Malevolence, a crimson bladed sword covered in purple flames that can kill anything in one hit. The catch? It saps all of your health while it is held, turning you into a One-Hit-Point Wonder.

Gentle Giant: Kintoki, despite being big and strong enough to pick up and throw demons, is very kind and soft spoken.

Giant Spider: Comes in human, extra-large, and building sizes in the second game. Tsuna has a vendetta against their entire clan.

Guide Dang It: Getting some of the weapons/accessories can be this; for instance, did you know you can kill the hydra during the Chase Scene? Most players are too busy running for their lives to think, "I wonder if I can kill that thing".

Infinity+1 Sword: The Moonlight Sword, not only does it have some of the best stats, but when you do a standing heavy attack the sword unleashes a Moonlight Wave that does insane damage, one-shotting almost everything. Makes a Cameo in Ninja Blade as the strongest heavy sword.

Joke Weapon: The Fanblade, it looks like a giant metal pinwheel... But it sends anything it hits flying away at high speed, then you remember that there's wall crush damage, making it a Lethal Joke Weapon and causing Hilarity Ensues.

This troper found that weapon to be a godsend on some of the later levels.

The Training Sword is a more straight example, as unlike the Fanblade, it's just pretty much entirely useless, and also extremely difficult to unlock.

Katanas Are Just Better: Almost completely Subverted: in Otogi thereís only one sword that resembles a katana, and while it is a good early game weapon, it gets outclassed by the weapons you can get later. In Otogi 2 the only person who uses a katana is Tsuna, and it's a Double Weapon most of the time.

Magic Meter: It's called Ki here, it drains over time because you're a walking corpse (or poisoned in Seimei's case) and can no longer generate Ki naturally.

Multi-Melee Master: There are over 30 weapons in Otogi, including light/heavy swords, staffs, dual blades and varius Blade on a Stick, and Raikoh can use all of them like it's second nature. Sadly he only uses swords in Otogi 2. (After rereading this trope I'm not sure if it applies, does it?)

Not Quite Flight: Air dashes and aerial attacks must be chained to get proper air time, which is quite a task when the player has to hunt down agile flying enemies. This is particularly evident in the second game where one level has the player character hopping around a fleet of enemy airships (flying ships, to be specific) with the land so far below that it's out of sight.

One-Winged Angel: The end boss of Otogi has three forms; he starts in a corrupted human form, becomes dragon-like with scales and horns, and then sheds his former body to reveal a ghostly white one. Interestingly he never changes into a giant monster; all his forms are humanoid, just with different skins and huge jumps in power.

Onmyodo: Seimei is a very powerful Onmyoji that is basically the video game version of Abe no Seimei.

Puzzle Boss: There's one that is immune to all damage except wall crush damage. The Joke Weapon makes this fight, well... a joke.

Red Oni, Blue Oni: The two centipedes from Otogi 2: one is resistant to magic and is red, the other is resistant to melee and is blue, they're even opposite genders... And apparantly husband and wife, or whatever the demon equivalent is.

Ritual Suicide: The Shitennō do this to revive Raikoh in 2. Tsuna stabs himself though the skull with his arm-blade, Sadamitsu has her pet crow peck her face off, Suetake blasts himself with lightning (which he's weak to), and Kintoki... Kintoki punches himself in the face so hard that High-Pressure Blood comes out, which is more Narm then anything.

Scenery Porn: The stages can range from bright and breathtaking to dark and haunting. The sheer epicness of the environments is matched only by their destructibility.

Secretly Dying: Seimei has hidden the sacred orb(which is really the Fox's Ninth Tail) in her left eye, and it is slowly killing her. In order to save her you have to remove the orb, and in doing so give the Fox back his power, making the final boss harder. This is how you get the good ending.

Simple Staff: Actually one of the best weapon types in the first game.

Soundtrack Dissonance: One of the most unique examples of any videogame. There's nothing quite like kicking the crap out of a demonic horde while a collection of ethereal, melancholic Japanese instruments play in the background. Check out the title theme here...

The Four Gods: The Japanese version is used for the magic system, with each house representing a god and its element. Note: They seem to be using the Chinese version of Byakko, which is Metal (in game shown as Lightning), instead of the Japanese version, which would be Earth... No clue why they did that though. Kohryu is also in the game as Ohryu, but can't be used by the player the same way you can't use Void.

The Rival: The Crimson King to Raikoh. An Oni demon with lots of flowing red hair, who wields a huge stone kanabo. You meet him early in Otogi, and at this point he can easily kick your ass. Later in the game you get a duelling stage where it's just you against him. And it is awesome! In Otogi 2 he shows up as a Bonus Boss that's as strong if not stronger then the end boss. Still not dead, many people hope he's in Otogi 3... If there ever is an Otogi 3.

The Stoic: All of the Player Characters to varius degrees. Seimei's narration in both games is dispassionate regardless of how dire the situation is said to be, especially in the English version.

To Hell and Back: Raikoh gets sent to the Netherworld... Twice. In Otogi a trap by the Big Bad sends him there, and in Otogi 2 he ends up there after being killed... Again. But Like a Badass out of Hell he refuses to stay down there, and fights his way back to the world of the living.

Useless Useful Spell: Kintoki can grab and drain the Ki from enemies, but it's far faster to just kill them since enemies drop Ki when they die.

Lightning Bruiser: Raikoh in the first game, he's fast, can smash a demon twice or more his size through a wall, and can launch powerful magic attacks. You can use weapons that focus on one of these aspects, but overall Raikoh is best when he can use all three.

The Mario: Raikoh is reduced to this for Otogi 2, as he can no longer use the strongest magic, and the much smaller weapon selection weakens him a bit. However, he still has some Lightning Bruiser to him, as he can walk into almost any stage and beat it without trouble, even if the stage is meant for another warrior. Tsuna is also a Mario, he's almost exactly like Raikoh in the way he moves and handles, but with a twist: the way his weapon works makes him good at crowd-control. Against lots of small enemies he's a beast, but larger enemies can give him trouble.

Fragile Speedster: Sadamitsu all the way: she has the best movement speed, has the shortest delay between dashes, can keep attacking as long as you keep hitting the light attack button, but does not take hits very well (she might have even less defense then Seimei, can't remember for sure).

Mighty Glacier: Kintoki, he has the worst speed, the worst jumping ability, can only use the weakest magic, but he has so much health that he can survive an attack that one-shots every other warrior, and his melee is so strong that he can kill a boss enemy thatís supposed to be immune to melee in two hits... damn, just damn.

Squishy Wizard: Suetake and Seimei, they both rely on magic to do most of their dirty work, the difference being that Suetake can melee if he has to because his weapon gives him a wide range, while Seimei can mostly only use magic. However, Seimei can double-tap her spells, firing two full powered shots one after the other AND can use spells even Suetake can't use, one of which is bar none the strongest spell in the game.

Walk on Water: You can walk on top of deep water as long as you have Ki, but it drains your Ki faster when you do this and if it runs out, say hello to a watery grave. However, there is an accessory that lets you walk on water without Ki, if your worried about the watery grave thing happening.

Heroes Prefer Swords: Averted in the first game where Raikoh can use many types of weapons, sadly played straight in Otogi 2 where he only uses swords. One of the only things that the second game didn't do better then the first.

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